Member Story:
“83-Year-Old Misdiagnosed With Alzheimer’s”

When I purchased a PinnacleCare membership for my mother, she was a vibrant 83-year-old woman — playing on her computer, doing crossword puzzles, traveling to her weekly bridge game, and taking road trips with her friends. And yet, she also had a long list of medications and a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. She was being passed back and forth among specialists and undergoing multiple invasive procedures.

She can live a more confident life now that she is out from under the cloud of unnecessary medication and an unwarranted Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

Upon meeting my mother, the PinnacleCare health advisors couldn’t fathom how this active and mentally quick woman could possibly have Alzheimer’s. They wanted her to get a second opinion on the diagnosis, and she immediately made an appointment. After reviewing her past MRIs and health history, the doctor felt my mother had been misdiagnosed. While my mother had Mildly Impaired Cognitive Ability, only 15% of patients with this condition progress to Alzheimer’s. And although her past MRIs showed she had had a minor stroke and damage from a previous car accident, the images did not confirm the original Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

My mother’s health advisors didn’t stop there. They arranged for a third opinion. The third doctor concurred that my mother did not have Alzheimer’s, adjusted her medications and told her that she could stop going to specialists.

Thanks to PinnacleCare, my mother can continue with her mind exercises and focus on winning her game of bridge! She can live a more confident life now that she is out from under the cloud of unnecessary medication and an unwarranted Alzheimer’s diagnosis. It’s a fortissimo “triple bravo” for Mom and the non-Alzheimer’s diagnosis. This is the best possible news and we are all so pleased!

The firm is now allowing its entire adviser force to refer clients to PinnacleCare, which also created a new elder-care assessment… Many advisers feel that dealing with elder-care issues isn’t their responsibility. But as clients age, “you’re going to be doing this whether you want to or not.”

In a time of serious illness, these advocates can help research new treatments that doctors may not know a lot about, cut through the medical bureaucracy, and perhaps help frame medical decisions more objectively than stressed out patients and their family members. Advocates are not just there to help you heal but also to keep you healthy.

— Anne Tergesen, “Your Guide to the Medical Maze”

Consider hiring a private patient advocate… It could help get you the care you need.

— Judy Foreman, “For when a doctor and a nurse just aren’t enough”

“Pinnacle provided me with a name and with research that said, ‘here’s how other people are going it, and here’s who has the most long-term survivors, and here are their stories.’ What I got from that was hope. Not a bad return on investment.”

— Gregory Taggart, “Deluxe Health Care”

“I always thought the medical staff would return phone calls, answer questions and discuss treatment plans and options. I was wrong.” So the family turned to…PinnacleCare for help. Within one day, a doctor on the company’s staff reviewed her mother’s medical records and set up a conference call with a neurosurgeon from Johns Hopkins and a neurologist from Rush University Medical Center, who agreed to take on the case. “We needed someone on our side.”